Detainees Information Center reported that detainee Wael Abdullah Tahaina, 35, detained in the Negev Detention Camp, is suffering serious complications in the “Seventh Cranial Nerve” causing convulsions in his eye, ear mouth and right cheek.
Tahaina is from Sielet Al Harithiyya village, near the West Bank city of Jenin.
Tahaina said that he suffered sever pain in his facial muscles which lead later on to convulsions in his face, while prison administration rejected to provide him with the needed medical treatment.
After he felt the first symptoms, Tahaina asked the prison administration to allow him to see the prison doctor, but they rejected his request and ignored his medical need which led for further complications.
Tahaina was transferred later on to Soroka hospital in Beer Shiva, but they sent him to a doctor who is not specialized in neural dysfunctions; the doctor prescribed some pills and eye-drops, and the detainees was sent back to the detention facility.
The Detainees Media Center reported that the prison administration ignored the medical needs of Tahaina for two days, yet when he was transferred to hospital, he was not examined by a specialized doctor.
Also, Tahaina needs a medical device to stimulate his muscles. He fears that after buying the device, he will not be able to receive it since he is barred of his visitation rights and the administration bars the entry of electronic equipment.
Tahaina was arrested January 16, 2004 and was transferred to administrative detention without trial or legal proceedings. The received four consecutive administrative detention orders since he was arrested.
It is worth mentioning that Tahaina was arrested 10 times, and was detained under administrative detention orders. He is a father of two children, carried a Masters Degree and is currently preparing for PHD.
Terminology:
 The seventh cranial nerve contains parasympathetic fibers to the nose, palate, and lacrimal glands. The preganglionic parasympathetic fibers that originate in the salivatory nucleus join the fibers from nucleus solitarius to form the nervus intermedius. These fibers then synapse with the submandibular ganglion, which has fibers that supply the sublingual and submandibular glands.
The fibers from the nervus intermedius also supply the pterygopalatine ganglion, which has parasympathetic fibers that supply the nose, palate, and lacrimal glands. The facial nerve passes through the stylomastoid foramen in the skull and terminates into the zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, and cervical branches.
These nerves serve the muscles of facial expression, which include frontalis, orbicularis oculi, orbicularis oris, buccinator, and platysma. Other muscles innervated by the facial nerve include stapedius, stylohyoid, posterior belly of the digastric, occipitalis, and anterior and posterior auricular muscles.
All muscles of the facial nerve are derived from the second brachial arch. The location of injury of the facial nerve in Bell palsy is peripheral to the seventh nerve nucleus. The injury is thought to occur near or at the geniculate ganglion. If the lesion is proximal to the geniculate ganglion, the motor paralysis is accompanied by gustatory and autonomic abnormalities.
Lesions between the geniculate ganglion and the origin of the chorda tympani produce the same effect except that they spare lacrimation. If the lesion is at the stylomastoid foramen, it may result in facial paralysis only.
 Facial paralysis is a disfiguring disorder that has a great impact on the patient. Facial nerve paralysis may be congenital, neoplastic, or result from infection, trauma, toxic exposures, or iatrogenic causes.
 The most common cause of unilateral facial paralysis is Bell palsy, also known as idiopathic facial paralysis. Bell palsy is thought to account for approximately 60-75% of cases of acute unilateral facial paralysis.
